ACCEPTED
14-15-00194-CV
FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS
HOUSTON, TEXAS
3/9/2015 2:09:47 PM
CHRISTOPHER PRINE
CLERK
Blumberg & Bagley, L.L.P.
Attorneys
2304 West Interstate 20, Suite 190 FILED IN
Arlington, Texas 76017 14th COURT OF APPEALS
www.blumbergbagley.com HOUSTON, TEXAS
3/9/2015 2:09:47 PM
Peter F. Bagley (817) 277-1500
Board Certified, Consumer and Commercial Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization CHRISTOPHER
Facsimile (817) A. PRINE
277-1170
Fellow, College of the State Bar of Texas Clerk
March 9, 2015
Mr. Christopher Prine
Deupty Clerk
14th Court of Appeals
Harris County District Clerk
301 Fannin, Suite 245
Houston, Texas 77002
Re: VICNRG LLC v. FCStone, LLC et al.; Appeal No. 14-15-00194-CV
Dear Clerk:
According to my call with your office, the above-referenced appeal has been assigned to
th
the 14 Court of Appeals as an accelerated appeal. As counsel for Appellant VicNRG LLC, I am
notifying you that I do not believe the case fits under any of the categories of accelerated appeals
described by Tex. R. App. P. 28.1, and therefore I ask that the court treat this as a non-accelerated
appeal.
You are advised that the parties have a disagreement about whether a final order exists in
the underlying case. Appellees believe an October 2014 order of severance serves as a final
judgment; we argue that the trial court must still sign a final judgment for the reasons indicated in
our Motion for Entry of Final Judgment. The trial court has not ruled on the motion, but we filed a
Conditional Notice of Appeal because we felt that if Tex. R. Civ. P. 306a applied, we had to file the
notice of appeal by February 20, 2015. It is my understanding that a notice of appeal invokes the
appellate court’s jurisdiction regardless of how the notice of appeal is described. Tex. R. App. P.
25.1.
When I spoke to your office, I was advised that I had to speak to the trial court about the
characterization of this appeal. Today I spoke to Phyllis Washington, the court’s senior civil
post-judgment/appeals clerk, with Danielle Jimenez, the court clerk, on the call. Ms. Washington
advised me that this case remains an active case on the trial court’s docket and that she can only
show the appeal as an accelerated appeal because there is no final order in the case. Again, I do not
believe rule 28.1 applies, and therefore I do not believe the deadlines associated with accelerated
appeals apply. Please let me know if this case remains an accelerated case or if I must file a motion
to recast the appeal.
Yours sincerely,
/s/ Peter F. Bagley
Peter F. Bagley
PFB/dsa
cc: VICNRG LLC
cc: VIA ELECTRONIC SERVICE
Mr. James T. Drakeley
Mr. R. Scott Seifert
Hiersche, Hayward, Drakeley & Urbach, P.C.
15303 Dallas Parkway, Suite 700
Addison, Texas 75001
Co-Counsel for Plaintiff VicNRG LLC;
cc: VIA ELECTRONIC SERVICE
Mr. Mark K. Glasser
Ms. Tracy LeRoy
Sidley LLP
1000 Lousiana, Ste. 6000
Houston, Texas 77002
Counsel for Defendants
FCStone, LLC, FCStone Trading, LLC, and FCStone Group, Inc.